147. The Siblings' Dream
147. The Siblings' Dream
"There are a lot of lines leading to the Holy Kingdom."
"Well, to eat harpy you have to butcher it, and there's no other place where you could safely do the butchering, right? Of course, if you dug tunnels underground or kept strong mercenaries on hand, it wouldn't matter, but I don't think anyone would hire strong mercenaries just to sell harpy skewers. So for now, I connected the routes mainly through safe places."
Sure enough, just as Stella said, I could see traces of care taken with routes that could safely secure supplies.
But still... even so, I hadn't expected it to be this obvious that they came from the Holy Kingdom.
Were they actually hoping someone would find them?
No... that probably wasn't it.
Harpy skewers. Especially when the harpy meat is this heavily seasoned, it's not easy to tell it apart from chicken.
I only knew because I'd eaten harpy meat relentlessly in my Past Life. Other people wouldn't have found it easy to distinguish.
They'd just think it was tasty chicken skewers and move on.
The reason we'd caught on like this was the combined result of Adelia's advice and my past-life experience.
Whether it was the Cartel or anyone else, they clearly couldn't have predicted this outcome.
"But shouldn't the Holy Kingdom be considered nearly impossible?"
"Why?"
"Because of the Anti-Magic Barrier."
The Anti-Magic Barrier.
When anything related to demons enters, the miracle bound into the barrier intercepts Monsters up to mid-grade.
From high-grade Monsters onward, the barrier's defensive aspect strengthens and protects the Holy Kingdom's faithful until the Blood Heaven Knight Order arrives.
Because of that Anti-Magic Barrier, harpies cannot exist in the Holy Kingdom. So I'd thought they'd at least be somewhere around the outskirts of the Holy Kingdom.
But these guys had drawn lines straight through without a care for the Anti-Magic Barrier.
"Monsters can't enter the Holy Kingdom."
Stella blinked. Right after, Eurasia and Ophelia also looked at me and tilted their heads.
Pina was smacking her lips in her sleep.
She must be having a good dream.
"Anti-Magic Barrier? Isn't that a barrier that only appears in fairy tales?"
"...No, it appears in fairy tales, and in novels, and it actually exists—"
While I was talking.
Ophelia let out a puff of laughter.
"Senior... why are you laughing?"
"Junior. You don't seem like it, but you've got a surprisingly naive side, don't you?"
"What? Naive? Me?"
"Yeah. Naive. Ahahaha! An Anti-Magic Barrier covering the entire Holy Kingdom? There's no way something like that exists!"
Soon, starting with Ophelia, who began cackling, Stella also wore a warm smile.
"Eliarnes. You probably don't know because you haven't studied magic, but... no one can deploy a barrier that covers an entire landmass half the size of the Imperial Capital."
"...What bullshit is that?"
No. It definitely exists.
How do I know? Because it's a barrier Luna deployed.
To extract Luna, the four of us had stormed into the Holy Kingdom, and in the process, because we'd beaten the entire Blood Heaven Knight Order half to death, Luna had deployed the Anti-Magic Barrier.
No matter how shitty a nation it was, she'd said it wasn't a nation that would fall to mere Monsters, and Luna had completed that barrier in half a day and handed control of it over to the Patriarch before leaving.
And now they're certain it doesn't exist?
Fine... I can grant that people these days have never seen or felt Luna's miracles or Kaloso's magic, so they might think that.
But no, I mean... isn't it written in fairy tales and novels that the Holy Kingdom has been able to remain intact to this day thanks to that barrier?
And it's true in reality, too. The Holy Kingdom is in a geographically shitty location. All four sides are habitats for at least mid-grade Monsters, and two or three times a month, high-grade Monsters pop out and rampage.
Of course, the Holy Kingdom does have the Blood Heaven Knight Order, who are contenders for the strongest, but they're insufficient to protect everyone from Monsters that appear without any warning.
Yet that Holy Kingdom has remained in the exact same place for 400 years. Which means the Anti-Magic Barrier is still operating.
"Hmm... am I pointlessly shattering your innocence? Still... don't be too disappointed. It's something you would've found out eventually anyway."
Stella wore an unpleasant smile and patted my shoulder. Ophelia was still cackling away, and even Eurasia was laughing awkwardly!
Eurasia! You're supposed to be on my side!
"Anyway, an Anti-Magic Barrier doesn't exist in this world. It can't exist. Even my master couldn't deploy a barrier like that."
Not the Flame Emperor, not just "master," but "my master," she says.
Showing off with that is ridiculous, and concluding that an Anti-Magic Barrier absolutely cannot exist is also ridiculous.
But even so... what can I do about it?
I'm... a person with two eyes in a village of one-eyed people.
And I don't even want to persuade these ignoramuses. Later, when you meet Luna, you'll find out then. Just wait and see how much I mock you.
"...Fine. Think whatever you want."
"Hmm? Is the junior sulking?"
"If you want to keep being treated as a senior, shut your mouth and lower your eyes, Senior."
"YesIwillshutmy mouthandlowermyeyesIamsorry."
"Hii...?"
At the noisy atmosphere, Pina opened her eyes.
Immediately after, she met my eyes, then at once began trembling and clung to Eurasia's arms.
"Why are you trembling and making a fuss the moment you see me? Huh?"
"Hii...! Hiik. Hi..."
"What's this. She's sulking, she's sulking. Pina, you don't need to listen to someone like her. If anything happens, I'll protect you. I'm 5th Circle now! Heheh!"
Stella, who had stepped in front of the trembling Pina, puffed out her flat chest. On top of that, she was confidently snorting through her nose... why is she so annoying?
"You want to get hit too? Want to spar for the first time in a while?"
"No. I'm never sparring with you again. You're too violent. And you, stop hitting Eurasia!"
"When did I ever hit Eurasia?"
"You hit her every single time you spar! And since you hit with your bare hands, it just looks like plain violence! It's blatant!"
"What, so should I just stand there and get hit? It's a spar where you hit each other and get hit. What do you mean don't hit? This is why magic nerds who hole up in their rooms doing research are no good."
"Wha, what?! Ma... ma-ma-magic nerd?! Ha! You're a chimpanzee! A magic nerd is way better than a chimpanzee!"
"Yeah. Bed-wetter."
"Ack! Aaack!! Ack! Ackack! Stop it! I said stop it!"
She'd retorted childishly, so I'd retorted childishly too, and now she was covering my mouth with her hands.
Those hands smelled like strawberry macarons.
The macarons I'd handed over this morning. She must have eaten them just now.
I smacked Stella's sticky hand away and looked at the map once more.
"Wipe the stickiness off your hands, you brat. Anyway, the performance report is done, right?"
"Ah, yes. That's done. There's a little left, but I think it'll be finished within an hour."
Eurasia, who had been soothing Pina, answered.
"My lady, please rest! I'll finish it in a flash!"
"Right. It really is fast with three people doing it."
"Three people?"
Eurasia asked back, and I turned my eyes to look at Stella, Eurasia, and Ophelia.
Then Eurasia, giggling, pointed at Pina in her arms.
"The three of us just extracted the sources. Pina did most of the organizing of the report contents."
"...Huh? Pina did? Pina. You really did it?"
Nod-
"Oh... so you can do it when you put your mind to it."
Nooood-
"That's my friend."
Nodnodnodnod-
Her bright brown eyes, brimming with tears, curved warmly.
"Here, come here. Friends get close by cursing at each other and throwing punches like this."
"...Hii?"
"Ah, of course, I'm not saying I'll hit you, so come here quickly."
Pina, who had been looking back and forth between me and Eurasia, cautiously approached me once Eurasia loosened her arms. Then she gently placed her tail on my hand.
"Good job. Here, a snack."
After handing Pina a macaron, I thoroughly enjoyed her tail. I hadn't been able to touch it before, but these days we'd gotten much closer, so it was possible.
Soft, fluffy, silky.
"You... what's wrong with you? You don't think of Pina as some kind of pet, do you?"
"No way. We're such close friends. Right, Pina?"
Nodnodnod-
Pina, who'd offered her tail, was also happily eating a macaron, so we were definitely close friends.
"Pina says so too, so you guys hurry up and do your work. Let's finish quickly and go back."
"...It's shameless of you to say that, but we've eaten the things you bought us too well to say anything."
"That's why I bought and sent them."
Thinking that once we got a bit closer, I'd try touching Pina's ears too, I looked at the map once more.
The Grand Cathedral of the Holy Kingdom.
The place Luna had both hated and loved.
Hoping that, no matter how much time passed, at least that place hadn't been defiled by human greed.
I closed my eyes.
My hand was soft, and in my ears came the rustling sound and the pleasant sound of papers turning.
The wind was cool, and the club room smelled nice.
Feeling the peace wrapping around everything, I began organizing my plans for the future.
*****
"My lady, my lady. What did you write for number 17? Surely... you didn't write it like you did on the entrance exam again, did you?"
The first day of midterms.
Having finished a total of three exams according to the scheduled timetable, Eurasia and I were heading to the private training hall.
Pina was training her Mana with Stella in the Mana Cultivation room, so we'd only eaten with those two before splitting up.
"...I didn't write it like that, but what? Did you also think my answer was wrong back then?"
"Ah, no? Not at all? Now that I've reached Tier 5, I've realized what it feels like to face one alone. But... uh, anyway. What did you write for number 17?"
"Oh-ho?"
Eurasia linked arms with me, putting on a cutesy voice.
This sly girl. Lately, whenever she's in a tough spot, she keeps acting cute like this.
Ridiculous. Absolutely.
"Number 17... what was number 17 again?"
"It was a hunting problem about a pack estimated to number at least several dozen Monsters, without even knowing what kind of Monster they were!"
"Ah, that one."
On this midterm answer sheet, I hadn't written a method that only I could do, unlike on the entrance exam.
I'd written a method that even perfectly ordinary rookie adventurers could do, even if it wasn't me.
...It feels like I'm losing to the academy somehow, but the fact that I got a failing grade on the written portion of the entrance exam hurts my pride even more.
So this time, I'd written an answer a bit more diligently, well, one that no one could call wrong.
"—is what I wrote."
And I told Eurasia that.
Then Eurasia's eyes went wide and she stopped walking.
Was she surprised by my perfect answer?
No... to say that, Eurasia's gaze was elsewhere.
Where? Straight ahead?
I also turned my gaze to look straight ahead.
And there.
"...What's that? A Monster?"
A huge... a truly enormous, ogre-like bald male student was looking at me with reddened eyes.
"...That answer, was it written by you?"
"You? Me? Tsk... seeing how you talk, you're not a Monster... but your way of speaking is odd. Well... yes. The answer is indeed something I wrote."
"Ah, my lady...! Calling him a Monster!"
His necktie color was different. That meant he was a second-year. That must be why Eurasia was horrified and tried to stop me.
Even so, she stepped forward as if to protect me. What a very, very admirable Eurasia.
On the other hand, the male student paid no mind to my words and opened his mouth again.
"That answer... did it come from your head?"
"Since I wrote it, it obviously came from my head."
"...Remarkable. Remarkable! Truly admirable!"
The male student nodded his head vigorously. As if that weren't enough, he clapped with hands the size of pot lids and poured out tears.
"Why is he making such a fuss—"
"Your answer was one worthy of the great and valiant Hero Ronan, whom this humble one has striven his whole life to follow but could never reach!"
"...Huh?"
What's this. Is he a good guy?